“Wooyoung-ah, are you alright?”
Nichkhun studied his best friend’s face in concern. The younger one looked him straight in the eyes as if to make sure that Khun truly wanted to hear an answer and wasn’t just asking him out of politeness. He lowered his gaze and sighed.
“I’m not.”

The two of them were sitting in a small coffee shop near Wooyoung’s apartment. He hadn’t really wanted to go but he hadn’t been able to resist Nichkhun’s pleading puppy dog eyes either.

The older one had noticed his friend being a bit down lately and thought maybe a hot beverage and some pastries would cheer him up a little.

“What’s wrong?” he now asked in a very serious tone. Wooyoung shrugged his shoulders.
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” Nichkhun frowned.

“Wooyoung… You know that you can be completely honest with me, right?”

Wooyoung bit his lip and nodded.
“I’m not really sure myself. It’s just… everybody’s so far away. Junho, Chansung, Taec… they all left one after the other. It’s getting pretty lonely here. I mean, of course I still got you,” he added hastily, “but you’re spending a lot of time with Victoria these days. And uhm, it’s a little… frustrating,” he explained carefully.

“I’m sorry,” Nichkhun said with an unhappy expression. He gently placed his hand on Wooyoung’s on the table and made eye-contact again. “I didn’t mean to make you feel lonely.”

“I-It’s not your fault,“ Wooyoung stuttered. A sad smile appeared on the Thai’s delicate face as he slowly shook his head.

They sat in silence for a while, each following their own track of thought. Nichkhun began Wooyoung’s hand absentmindedly as he stared out the big window next to their table and at the soft touch his companion had to resist the urge to just close his eyes, lean back and maybe even fall into slumber.
Instead he just watched Nichkhun’s fingers move hypnotically, not thinking about anything in particular.

“Nichkhun,” Wooyoung suddenly started. It felt good saying his name out loud. “Will you… could you maybe stay at my place tonight? I don’t really feel like being there all alone. And I mean, it’s way closer than your place and-“

“You don’t have to convince me,” Nichkhun interrupted him and laughed silently. “Of course I’ll come.” Wooyoung returned his smile – it was the first time the Thai boy saw him with a somewhat happy expression that day. “Thank you,” the younger one whispered.

“Shall we go now?”
Wooyoung nodded and so both of them stood up. Instead of just keeping his hands to himself again as the blond had expected Nichkhun took hold of his hand, ignoring weird looks they got from other customers and intertwining their fingers as they left. Walking beside him Wooyoung glanced at the older one, the gentle smile never leaving his face. He didn’t even want to imagine what life would be like without the Thai boy by his side, but he was sure that it would always feel like something most important was missing.

He quickly got rid of these thoughts. Better enjoy the moment.
Wooyoung loved how they actually didn’t need to talk all the time, how the longest silence between them never felt awkward. Also it would have probably felt weird to hold hands with anyone else than Nichkhun, but with him it was simply… natural. The warmth of his hand seemed to send small waves of calmness through all of Wooyoung’s body and as they walked like that he very much enjoyed a feeling that slowly rose in him, the feeling of belonging to someone.

They reached Wooyoung’s apartment way too soon for his liking and as he needed to unlock the door Nichkhun eventually had to let go of his hand.

The Thai boy followed Wooyoung into the living room where he stood a little aimlessly while the younger one went around to switch on the lights and close the curtains in front of the two big windows. It was basically impossible to even catch a glimpse of the room when you looked up from the streets but Khun knew about Wooyoung’s little paranoia and that he easily felt observed.

A slight blush appeared on his cheeks when the blond turned around and caught Nichkhun grinning to himself.

“Uh, sorry.”

Wooyoung tilted his head. “What are you apologizing for?” Khun was dumbfounded. Yeah, what was he apologizing for? He laughed when he saw the younger one biting down on his lip to suppress a grin.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “For smiling to myself like a total idiot, I guess.” Wooyoung laughed. “It’s okay. I like your smile.” Nichkhun chuckled softly at that, appearing more attractive then it would ever have crossed his mind, with his hands nonchalantly resting in the pockets of his black jeans and his dark hair falling into his eyes only the slightest bit.

“Thank you, Wooyoungie.” The younger one blinked a few times and smiled at him sheepishly, then let his eyes drift around the room thinking of something to do.
“You, uh, wanna watch a movie or something?” Nichkhun nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that. What’d you have in mind?” Wooyoung shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t really know… just nothing too dramatic and depressing please.” Nichkhun nodded thoughtfully. “How about some martial arts movie?” Wooyoung grinned. Of course Khun would suggest that. “Alright. My collection’s obviously not as impressive as yours, but you may choose one out of these… seven,” the younger one announced after inspecting his DVD shelf. Nichkhun stepped closer as well, wrapping his arms around Wooyoung’s waist and resting his head on the other one’s shoulder as he supposedly looked at the DVDs Woo was talking about. Somehow he would always get this touchy-feely when he was alone with his best friend.

They remained in this position for longer than necessary, each secretly enjoying the other’s closeness. After a while though, Nichkhun did open his mouth to speak again.

“Wooyoung-ah… do you love me?” The blond shuddered under Khun’s warm breath brushing his neck. “Yes, I love you,” he said in a soft voice, almost whispering, without even thinking about it and simply pronouncing what his heart told him. Then it suddenly hit him. Nichkhun couldn’t have possibly meant it that way. He closed his eyes, rapidly searching for a way out of this dilemma.

“I-I mean, in a, uhm, platonic way, as your dongsaeng… of course.”

Nichkhun’s only answer was a barely audible “Mh-hm”, but apart from that he remained as well silent as motionless. Wooyoung slowly calmed down a little. Surely, Nichkhun hadn’t noticed. 

“You sure you still want to watch that movie?” the Thai boy asked when he felt the younger one getting heavier in his arms and watched his eyes closing by themselves and fluttering open again for several times.

“Maybe not,” Wooyoung muttered sleepily.

Nichkhun reluctantly let go of him when he started to head for the single bedroom. The Thai boy watched the younger one go as he himself stayed a little behind.

“Uhm…” Wooyoung turned around and looked at him with sleepy eyes. Nichkhun couldn’t help noticing that he looked quite adorable in this state.

“Where shall I sleep?” Khun finally asked. The blond blinked a few times, showing a rather blank expression. “In my bed,” he said matter-of-factly. Where the hell else?

The older one smiled. “Okay. You wanna shower first?” Wooyoung pulled a face and shook his head. “No need, you go. I’ll shower in the morning,” he muttered.

He just managed to hand a towel and pajama to his best friend before he got ready for bed himself and nestled down in the warm blankets. Wooyoung didn’t even know why he suddenly felt so damn tired but he didn’t have much time to think about it either as he fell into an almost immediate sleep.

When Nichkhun returned to the bedroom after about ten minutes he found the sleeping beauty all snuggled up. He shook his head with a soft smile. Wooyoung hadn’t even turned out the lights.

Khun found himself stepping to the side of the bed where his best friend was resting. He crouched down on the floor and propped up his head on his arms which he had put on Wooyoung’s sheets. Watching his fair face and listening to his regular breathing Nichkhun felt himself getting exceptionally calm on the inside. When he noticed the hint of a smile appearing on Wooyoung’s lips Nichkhun slowly got up, careful not to make any sudden movement or noise that might wake the other up. He wondered what he was dreaming about.

The Thai silently moved through the room to switch off the light and got into bed next to Wooyoung afterwards. He gently caressed the blond’s bare arm, whispering a late “goodnight” before peacefully leaving for dreamland himself.

When he woke up in the morning the first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t at home. Secondly, he realized that Wooyoung wasn’t at his side anymore. His sleepy mind was still slow and at the time he started to think about the younger’s whereabouts his lean figure had already appeared in the doorframe.

Nichkhun couldn’t help staring at him, again. The way he stood there, dressed in a well-fitted shirt and casual dark jeans, with his wet hair falling into his face and the sunlight seemingly making him glow from behind was utterly beautiful.

“Good morning,” Wooyoung said with a smile, amused at Khun’s sleepy face.

“G’ morning,” the other one muttered in response, making himself sit up on the bed.

“Would you like to have breakfast?” Nichkhun smiled.

“You made breakfast?” Wooyoung nodded proudly. The other one laughed silently, making the blond’s heart jump a little. Khun’s voice was slightly deeper in the mornings; he really enjoyed the sound of it.

“So then… will you get out of bed or do I have to make you come?”

Nichkhun grinned at him provokingly, but Wooyoung just chuckled and left for the kitchen. Shortly after, Nichkhun joined him – now fully dressed and without any sign of drowsiness.

“Oh, you woke up!” Wooyoung joked looking at his friend’s bright eyes.

“Yeah,” Nichkhun said, holding the other’s gaze. A slight blush appeared on Wooyoung’s cheeks and he broke the eye-contact pointing to the kitchen counter.

“Tea or coffee?” he asked, running a hand through his short hair.

“Coffee,” Nichkhun responded, observing the younger one’s every movement.

“You know,” he started slowly, admiring the other’s delicate jawline, “It’s a pity that you’re not in love with me, really.”

Wooyoung almost dropped the can of coffee. “Wh-what?”

“It would be only fair if you were, don’t you think?” Wooyoung finally turned to look at Nichkhun. He had thought that maybe the older one was mocking him, just fooling around, but that look in his eyes… It scared Wooyoung to death. It was all serious and hopeful and endearing and frail at the same time and he honestly didn’t know what to do or say. All he managed was a soft “Why?”.

“Because I’m in love with you,” Nichkhun finally confessed. “I love you. In a completely non-platonic way.”

Wooyoung stared at him, starting to question if this was even real. He didn’t even know if he himself actually existed.  In fact, he couldn’t quite sense the ground under his feet anymore, making him feel like he was floating in the air.

“You do?” he asked weakly. Nichkhun bit his lip and nodded wordlessly.

“Can I take back what I said yesterday?” Wooyoung felt like crying by now. God, he was so stupid.

“Depends on which part you’re talking about,” Khun said softly.

“The part where I denied that I’m in love with you.” Nichkhun nodded, hiding a grin.

“I love you Nichkhun, with all of my being.”

Nichkhun smiled lovingly, taking hold of Wooyoung’s wrist to pull him close. The younger one wrapped his arms around Khun’s waist and buried his face in his chest. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Don’t be,” Nichkhun replied, making the blond look at him. “I love you, you hear me? And I really couldn’t be more happy right n-“ Before he could even finish his sentence, Wooyoung had closed his mouth in a breathtaking kiss which he gladly responded to. Feeling each other like this was merely amazing and both didn’t want their first kiss to ever end.

When they eventually let go of each other Nichkhun shot Wooyoung, whose face had blushed madly, a happy ear-to-ear smile. He gently the younger one’s tender cheek and placed another peck on his sweet lips.

“You proved me wrong,” Nichkhun chuckled. “You just made me even more happy.” Wooyoung smiled brightly. Seeing his newfound love rejoicing like that he too felt happier than he could have ever imagined. A beep of the kitchen clock, indicating the full hour, suddenly reminded him of their initial plans for this morning. He looked at the set table and then back at his Nichkhun.

“You still up for breakfast?”